Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c22.44.1

c22.44.1

**Poverty: Possessions or Property not permissible to an individual Monk.** Next to the vow of chastity is that of poverty as an essential mark of monastic life. A monk must live by mendicancy and not by his property, the fetter which binds man to the world. Hence he is called a Bhikshu, Bhikkhu, beggar. The Bhikshu is known even to the *Rigveda* [x, 117]. The poor are always with us. The Rigveda enjoins the rich to support the poor as a duty. Going from home into homelessness meant the surrender of all property and embracing poverty, the superior sanctity and glories of which are very often proclaimed in the texts. "It is difficult for the man who dwells at home to live the higher life in all its fulness, in all its purity, in all its bright perfection. I wish therefore to cut off my hair and beard, to clothe myself in the orange-coloured robes, and to go forth from the household life into the houseless state." Thus declares an intending *bhikkhu* [*Mahāv*., v, 13, 1], and the declaration was the most usual one in such cases. The following passage expresses the standing attitude towards family life and property regarded as fetters holding in bondage the spirit struggling for freedom: "Wise people do not call that a strong fetter which is made of iron, wood, or hemp; passionately strong is the care for precious stones and rings, for sons and a wife" [*Dhammapada*, v, 345].